Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. ( ; )
is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Rennes, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries.
As of now, it is the third largest independent game publisher in Europe, and the third largest in the United States. The company's largest development studio is Ubisoft Montreal, which currently employs more than 1,700 people. Yves Guillemot, a founding brother, was the chairman and CEO. As for 2008–2009 fiscal year, Ubisoft's revenue was €1.058 billion, reaching the 1 billion euro milestone for the first time in its history. Ubisoft has created its own film division called Ubisoft Motion Pictures which will create shows and films based on its games.
History
The five brothers of the Guillemot family founded Ubisoft as a computer game publisher in March
1986 in
France (
Brittany). The name is a play on words, "Ubi" meaning "where" in Latin -- thus, UbiSoft is 'Softwhere' or 'Software'. Yves Guillemot soon made deals with
Electronic Arts,
Sierra On-Line, and
MicroProse to distribute their games in France. By the end of the decade, Ubisoft began expanding to other markets, including the
United States, the
United Kingdom, and
Germany.
In the early 1990 years, Ubisoft initiated its in-house game development program which led to the 1994 opening of a studio in Montreuil, France, which later became their headquarters. Ubisoft became a publicly traded company in 1996 and continued to expand to offices around the globe, opening locations in Shanghai and Montreal.
In 2000, Ubisoft acquired Red Storm Entertainment.
In February 2001, they acquired Düsseldorf, Germany based Blue Byte Software.
In March 2001, Gores Technology Group sold The Learning Company's entertainment division (which includes games originally published by Brøderbund Software, Mattel, Mindscape and Strategic Simulations, Inc.) to them. The sale included the rights to IPs such as the Myst and Prince of Persia series.
In October 2001, they acquired Gamebusters and moved them to the German Offices.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Ubisoft committed itself to online games by getting behind ''Uru: Ages Beyond Myst'', ''The Matrix Online'', and the European and Chinese operation of ''EverQuest''. The publisher established ubi.com as its online division. However, in February 2004, Ubisoft cancelled the online portion of ''Uru'' and backed out of the publishing deal on ''The Matrix Online''. Nevertheless, a mere week later, the company announced its acquisition of Wolfpack Studios, developer of ''Shadowbane''.
In December 2004, a rival game corporation Electronic Arts purchased a 19.9% stake in the firm, an action Ubisoft referred to as "hostile" on EA's part.
In March 2005, Ubisoft acquired part of MC2-Microïds (''Microïds Canada'') and integrated it into Ubisoft Montreal.
In July 2006 Ubisoft also bought the ''Driver'' franchise from Atari for a sum of €19 million (US$24 million) in cash for the franchise, technology rights, and most assets. Additionally, though Ubisoft is not acquiring the studio outright, the members of ''Driver'' developer Reflections Interactive became employees of Ubisoft. As a result, Reflections Interactive was subsequently renamed Ubisoft Reflections.
On 11 April 2007, Ubisoft announced that it had acquired German game developer Sunflowers, followed by an acquisition of Japanese developer Digital Kids that November.
Ubisoft is also responsible for publishing famous franchises produced by other important studios for some specific platforms, such as ''Resident Evil 4'' for PC, which is a Capcom production, and ''Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon'' for PlayStation 2 and ''Harvest Moon Online'', which are Marvelous Interactive productions.
On 8 July 2008, Ubisoft made the acquisition of Hybride Technologies, a Montreal-based studio renowned for its expertise in the creation of visual effects for cinema, television and advertising. Created over 15 years ago, Hybride employs 100 team members. The studio's many film include ''300'', ''Frank Miller's Sin City'', ''Avatar'' and the ''Spy Kids'' series.
On 10 November 2008, Ubisoft acquired Massive Entertainment from Activision.
In 2009 Ubisoft Inc. acquired the domain Imaginetown.com from S. J. Crowley, writer, illustrator, former Walt Disney Imagineer and creator of The Ghostniks Haunted Adventure Series.
Studios
As the fourth largest video game company in the world as of 2009, Ubisoft studios employs the second largest amount of in-house development staff in the world and has several divisions and offices throughout the world. While some were founded by Ubisoft, others have been acquired over time:
Current
Ubisoft Annecy
Ubisoft Bulgaria
Ubisoft Casablanca
Ubisoft Chengdu, started on 17 September 2007.
Ubisoft Germany in
Düsseldorf, Germany, started in 1995, acquired Gamebusters in October 2001 and merged employees.
Blue Byte Software in Düsseldorf, Germany, founded in 1988, acquired February 2001.
Related Designs Software GmbH, founded in January 1995, acquired a 30% stake in the company on 11 April 2007.
Sunflowers Interactive Entertainment Software GmbH in Heusenstamm, Germany, founded in 1993, acquired on 11 April 2007.
Ubisoft India, started in 2008 after acquiring the Pune
Gameloft studio. Will focus on porting games to the current generation of handhelds. In Times Animage 2009 held at Pune it was disclosed by Ubisoft officials that the Pune Studio was developing its own games on DS, Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms.
Ubisoft Ukraine, started 29 April 2008.
Ubisoft Massive in Malmö, Sweden, founded as Massive Entertainment in 1997, acquired from Vivendi Games on 10 November 2008.
Ubisoft Montpellier, acquired Tiwak in 2004 and merged employees. Developer of ''Rayman Origins'', ''From Dust'', and ''Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn''. Michel Ancel is a developer for this division. Current projects include ''Beyond Good & Evil 2'' and ''Killer Freaks from Outer Space''
Ubisoft Montreal, started in 1997 as Ubisoft Divertissements Inc., acquired the Canadian division of
Microids on 2 March 2005, eventually merged into this division.
Hybride Technologies, acquired 8 July 2008.
Quazal, acquired in 4 November 2010.
Nadeo in Issy-les-Moulineaux, Paris, France, founded in 2000. Acquired in 5 October 2009.
Ubisoft
Nagoya, started in September 1996 as "Digital Kids". Acquired by Ubisoft in 2008.
Ubisoft Paris, made games such as ''Rayman Raving Rabbids 2'', ''Red Steel'', ''Red Steel 2'', and ''XIII''.
Ubisoft Poland, opened in 2009.
Ubisoft Quebec, started 1 June 2005, based in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Ubisoft Red Storm in
Morrisville, North Carolina,
USA, founded in 1996 and acquired in August 2000.
Ubisoft Reflections in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, founded in 1984 as Reflections Interactive and acquired in 26 August 2006, from Atari.
Ubisoft Romania in Bucharest, Romania and Craiova, started in October 1992.
Ubisoft São Paulo, started on 24 June 2008 and on 20 January 2009 they acquired Southlogic Studios and integrated it into this studio. The studios were closed in late 2010 to focus on games distribution.
Ubisoft San Francisco, North American Headquarters
Ubisoft Shanghai, announced in early 2009 that their new, Shanghai studio would develop the upcoming Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 title, ''I Am Alive'', instead of the originally expected Darkworks.
Ubisoft Singapore, started on August 2008. Ubisoft cited the
Singapore government's demonstrated interest and support for the
video game industry, together with other factors such as the quality of
Singapore's universities and training institutions, as reasons for opening a studio there. Ubisoft Singapore is focused on developing their own game titles.
Ubisoft Tokyo, started in 1994.
Ubisoft Toronto, announced on 6 July 2009, is led by ''
Assassin's Creed'' producer
Jade Raymond. Their first productions will include a new installment of the ''
Splinter Cell'' series made by staff coming from the series' core team at Ubisoft Montreal.
Ubisoft Milan, started in early 1998.
Ubisoft Barcelona, started 1998.
RedLynx, acquired in November 2011.
Defunct
Sinister Games, acquired in April 2000, closed in June 2003.
Wolfpack Studios in
Austin, Texas,
U.S, founded in 1999 and acquired on 1 March 2004. Closed in 2006.
Ubisoft Vancouver, started on 3 February 2009 after acquiring Action Pants Inc. Closed in January 2012.
Upcoming games
2012
''Brothers in Arms: Furious 4'' (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows)
''Far Cry 3'' (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows)
''Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier'' (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows)
''Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Online'' (Microsoft Windows, Wii U)
''Assassin's Creed III'' (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Microsoft Windows)
''Shootmania'' (Microsoft Windows)
''Questmania'' (Microsoft Windows)
2013
''
Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Patriots'' (Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U)
TBA
''Tom Clancy's EndWar 2'' (TBA)
''Beyond Good & Evil 2'' (TBA)
''Killer Freaks from Outer Space'' (Wii U)
''Your Shape'' (Wii U)
''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 6'' (TBA)
''Rayman Legends'' (Wii U, TBA)
Uplay
With the release of ''
Assassin's Creed II'' in 2009, Ubisoft launched the ''Uplay'' network, which is activated either in-game or via the Uplay website. Uplay allows players to connect with other gamers, and to earn rewards based on achievements (called "Actions") in Uplay enabled games, with Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stating that "the more you play, the more free goods you will be able to have".
Games
''Assassin's Creed II''
''Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood''
''Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy''
''Assassin's Creed Revelations''
''Brothers in Arms: Furious 4''
''Call of Juarez: The Cartel''
''Driver: San Francisco''
''Heroes of Might and Magic VI''
''Just Dance 3''
''Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands''
''Pure Football''
''R.U.S.E.''
''Shaun White Skateboarding''
''Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic''
''Splinter Cell: Conviction''
''The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom''
''Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2''
''Your Shape: Fitness Evolved''
Hardware
Controversies
Ubisoft had, for a time, used the controversial
StarForce copy protection technology that installs drivers on a system and is known to cause some hardware problems and compatibility issues with certain operating systems, starting with the game ''
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory'', which was not compatible with
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition for quite some time, until a patch was released by the makers of StarForce. On 14 April 2006, Ubisoft confirmed that they would stop using StarForce on their games, citing complaints from customers.
In the February 2008 issue of ''Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM)'', Editor-in-Chief Dan "Shoe" Hsu asserted that Ubisoft had ceased to provide all Ubisoft titles to the ''EGM'' for any coverage purposes as a result of prior critical previews and negative reviews.
Yves Guillemot, the CEO of Ubisoft, was quoted in the company's third-quarter 2008-09 sales report as saying "''as some of our games did not meet the required quality levels to achieve their full potential, they need more sales promotions than anticipated''."
In January 2010, Ubisoft has announced the ''Online Services Platform'', which forces customers to not only authenticate on the first game launch, but to remain online continually while playing, with the game even pausing if network connection is lost. This makes it impossible to play the game offline, to resell it, and means that should Ubisoft's servers go down, the game will be unplayable. In February 2010, review versions of ''Assassin's Creed II'' and ''Settlers 7'' for PC contained this new DRM scheme, confirming that it is already in use, and that instead of pausing the game, it would discard all progress since the last checkpoint or save game. However, subsequent patches for ''Assassin's Creed II'' allow the player to continue playing once their connection has been restored without lost progress.
In March 2010 outages to the Ubisoft DRM servers were reported, causing about 5% of legitimate buyers to be unable to play ''Assassin's Creed II'' and ''Silent Hunter 5'' games. Ubisoft initially said this was the result of the number of users attempting to access their servers to play, however Ubisoft later claimed that the real cause of the outages were denial-of-service attacks.
The company's use of Aaron Priceman, also known as ''Mr. Caffeine'', as a spokesman at E3 2011 was criticized for its reliance on witty remarks, inability to pronounce Tom Clancy (he pronounced it Tom Culancy), sexual innuendos and imitations of video game sound effects with little to no response from the audience.
In August 2011, Ubisoft released From Dust with DRM protection, contrary to previous statements that the game would not have any DRM related restrictions. Though a promise was made to remove it, after several months the DRM had still not been removed from many if not all copies of the game. Also, the game was widely described as "badly ported" from consoles. Joystiq reports that "paying players will find a capped frame rate, limited resolutions for the windowed mode, no anti-aliasing and plenty of bugs".
Lawsuits
In 2008, Ubisoft sued Optical Experts Manufacturing (OEM), a DVD Duplication company for $25 million plus damages for the leak and distribution of the PC version of ''
Assassin's Creed''. The lawsuit claims that OEM did not take proper measures to protect its product as stated in its contract with Ubisoft. The complaint also alleges that OEM admitted to all the problems in the complaint.
In April 2012, Ubisoft is currently being sued by the author of the book "Link", John L. Beiswenger for copyright infringement for using the ideas that were used in the Assassin's Creed franchise like allowing the main character, Desmond to travel back to the past of his ancestors by using the Animus and he also claims that Ubisoft plagiarized his ideas on Good Vs. Evil concept that were in his book that he claims that were used in the Assassin's Creed games. He wishes for $5.25 million in damages and wants to stop the release of Assassin's Creed 3 that is due to come out October 2012 and any future game that has his ideas are being used.
See also
List of Ubisoft games
Ubisoft Entertainment games
Frag Dolls
UbiWorkshop
References
External links
Ubisoft's public site
Ubisoft's corporate site
Category:Video game companies of France
Category:Companies based in Paris
Category:Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences members
Category:Companies established in 1986
Category:Entertainment Software Association
Category:Video game publishers
Category:Video game developers
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